This barbed black comedy from Spain demolishes a smug and sleazy Lothario who's blackmailed into a romance by an unattractive female colleague.

Rafael (Guillermo Toledo), an ambitious manager at a fancy Madrid store, is proud of having seduced a goodly portion of the women there. (He holds regular trysts in the bedding department.) When he accidentally kills his obnoxious boss (Luis Varela), he is delivered into the grasping hands of a colleague, Lourdes (Monica Cervera), a homely woman who would normally elicit nothing but disgust from this department store Don Juan.

To keep her quiet, he's forced to become her lover. And to top it off, she's also full of bright ideas about the store and starts climbing the corporate ladder. She is inescapable and intolerable, and Rafael can see no way out short of murder. To this end he's given cheerful advice by the gruesome ghost of his deceased boss.

There are lots of wicked laughs here, if nothing tremendously original. Director and co-writer Alex de la Iglesia takes satirical aim at male vanity, the war between the sexes, corporate life and the public's gullibility in matters of advertising and fashion. The film works in large part because of the comic skill of lead actor Toledo. Cervera also does a fine job -- her Lourdes is every overlooked woman who finally gets the whip hand, and loves it.

The director slips up by introducing the ghost, with his putrid green makeup, which pushes parts of the film into farce. Still, Rafael is such an unmitigated louse that it's fun to watch him get skewered.

With his caustic humor, director de la Iglesia is being billed as "the next Almodovar."

-- Advisory: This film has strong sexual content and scenes of comic violence. -- Walter Addiego

The Vatican apparently hated this drama, which is understandable since it portrays Catholics in Rome as hypocritical opportunists who consider "carpe diem" a mandate to justify borderline behavior. Director Marco Bellocchio doesn't sensationalize scandal or high-level misconduct -- he merely looks at one family's doings, and the church's role in making that family's matriarch a saint.

Does the mother deserve canonization? Absolutely not claims the central character, a steadfast atheist named Ernesto (Sergio Castellitto of "Mostly Martha") who says she verbally abused her offspring, including him, with her constant warnings about blasphemy. "She was stupid," Ernesto tells a cardinal conducting the Vatican's hearing. "You don't ask a child, 'What's wrong with you?' (and) 'Don't do this. Don't do that!' Not if there's no conviction behind your words."

Ernesto should know since he's now the father of a young son. The boy lives with Ernesto's ex-partner, who gets him taking a religion class. More ominously for Ernesto, the ex has -- for three years, behind his back -- conspired with Ernesto's siblings and aunts to tell church leaders that the mother was a saintly figure. Their motives are dubious, with some of them admitting they're interested only in the prestige of official Vatican recognition. A professionally successful painter, Ernesto wants none of it -- or at least that's what he believes as he meets a succession of Italians who have their own staunch ideas on the role of the Church.

Through a music score that includes a song from John Adams, and through settings that relay a mood of mysticism and mystery, Bellocchio has created a film that is more than mere entertainment. "My Mother's Smile" is an artful look at religious hypocrisy, interfamily dynamics and the way people wrestle with personal history long after the original events are over.

1) Can the son of Jane Fonda act at all? Yes. In this small-town drama, Troy Garity (whom Fonda had from her marriage to Tom Hayden) plays a mentally challenged man, Albert Burroughs, who happens to be a champion ice fisherman. Once people recognize Burroughs' wealth, he becomes a target of schemers, including a man who claims to be his father (Randy Quaid) and a conniving woman (Alison Folland) dressed for sex. Garity does a decent job of portraying a man who is both slow-witted and fast-thinking.

2) What ever happened to Bruce Dern and Randy Quaid? For those who consumed TV and movies in the 1970s, Dern and Quaid were stalwart figures who could inhabit their roles with passion and depth. They've since starred in many vehicles, but "Milwaukee, Minnesota" is their chance to shine for another generation of moviegoers. Dern is the owner of the copy shop that employs Burroughs, while Quaid is the mustachioed, gun-toting figure who talks and menaces his way into people's lives.

3) Is it possible to set a movie in a tiny, snow-bound town in mid-America and not be derivative of "Fargo"? Not really. The Coen Brothers ruined it for everyone with their 1996 film that mixed dark humor, icy conditions and a plot that had audiences guessing until the end. "Milwaukee, Minnesota" is a similar blend of comedy/place/surprising plot twists. It's not a facsimile of "Fargo," but it's hard not to compare the two.

4) Does Allan Mindel have a bright future in movies? Let's see. This is Mindel's first feature film as director. Before that, he was an executive producer on such works as "My Own Private Idaho." Early in his career, Mindel co-founded a modeling agency. "Milwaukee, Minnesota" is memorable enough to warrant another shot at director. This film ends in a way that proves Mindel doesn't rely on cliches to make a statement.

-- Advisory: Semi-nudity, scenes of physical and sexual violence.

-- Jonathan Curiel

Shoujyo: An Adolescent: Japanese drama. Starring Eiji Okuda, Mayu Ozawa. Directed by Okuda. In Japanese with English subtitles. (Not Rated. 132 minutes. At the Galaxy)

Culture is a funny thing -- in "Shoujyo: An Adolescent" we have a quirky love story, set in a small town in Japan, well photographed and acted. Yet the central love story is of a policeman in his 40s and a 15-year-old schoolgirl, and it is presented in a fairly straightforward fashion.

It is indeed troubling. It certainly could not have been made in America. Do the Japanese approve of such a relationship? I think not. But there definitely seems to be an acceptance of at least depicting such a relationship in art.

Yet director and star Eiji Okuda has created almost a gentle story, with definite humanity behind its intent. The love story is not a lascivious end unto itself, but serves as the spine behind the troubled past of the girl's fractured family and the policeman's relationship to members of the family. Tomokawa (Okuda) is a policeman bored with his job -- returning a lost pet to its owner is a typical task. He also is known for affairs with married women, mostly out of boredom -- both his and theirs. One day he is propositioned by a young girl, Yoko (Maya Ozawa). Tomokawa thinks she is a prostitute, but after the deed she leaves his money on the table and disappears.

She turns out to be the younger sister of a mentally challenged man whom Tomokawa has taken under his wing. Her mother, a former amour of Tomokawa, has abandoned them, so she is raised by her grandfather, who used to be a gangster and is a tattoo artist -- he, in fact, gave Tomokawa a unique tattoo before he decided to abandon yakuza life for the police force.

Why has Yoko fallen in love with Tomokawa? It's hard to say. It has to do with the tattoo, and a secret buried in the family's past. Okuda's conservative visuals are rich and there's a real feel for Japanese village life, and the pace has a peaceful flow to it, like a babbling brook.

"Shoujyo" is an interesting film, and while it is not entirely successful (and at times most puzzling), it achieves a certain poignancy.

-- Advisory: This film contains nudity and sex scenes.

-- G. Allen Johnson

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